DOT signs first sponsorship deal

The state Department of Transportation on Monday unveiled its first sponsorship under a 2014 law that called for such deals to augment state funding.

The DOT said State Farm insurance has agreed to sponsor the Incident Management Assistance Patrol program, or IMAP, a service that offers free roadway assistance to motorists in need. Under the four-year deal, terms of which weren't disclosed, IMAPwould be renamed the NCDOT State Farm Safety Patrol.

"A primary goal of the department is to make traveling in North Carolina as safe and efficient as possible," Transportation Secretary Tony Tata said in a statement. "This innovative way of funding a vital program like the State Farm Safety Patrol furthers that effort without requiring additional tax dollars."

The NCDOT State Farm Safety Patrol covers specific highway routes during peak travel hours to provide traffic control and safety at incident scenes. The program also assists motorists with towing, jump-starts and flat tire repair on heavily traveled highways in the Triangle, Triad, Wilmington, Charlotte and Asheville areas.

In 2014, the program assisted more than 100,000 motorists.

As part of the sponsorship, all IMAP vehicles will receive an updated look, including the State Farm logo and enhanced reflective safety markings to make the vehicles more visible, especially at night. As the exclusive sponsor, the State Farm logo will also be added to the patrol drivers' uniforms, as well as to roadway signage that provides motorists with program information and informs them of the covered routes.

State Farm also sponsors Safety Patrols in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Nevada, Louisiana and Kansas.